Word from the insiders on twitter is that the Maple Leafs have waived Mikhail Grabovski for the purposes of buying him out today. This is a prelude to unrestricted free agency opening up this weekend (and possible re-signing Tyler Bozak). It's a comically poor decision for Toronto who are one of the worst possession teams in the league, but it represents an opportunity for the Flames.

Gabovski had a down year last season in terms of output, but that was due to a combination ofr brutally difficult circumstances and really poor luck (36% ZS and toughest competition on the team, PDO of 98.8). Grabbo has historically been the best possession center on the Leafs and once his percentages regress to the mean his counting numbers will drastically improve as well. Style wise, he is fast, agile, creative with the puck and a quality passer.

Grabovski is 29 and will be paid an average of $5.5M for each of the next 4 seasons, so he's not cheap and there's some risk at the end of the deal. On the other hand, he's a legit top-6 center capable of playing other top-6 opponents and is available for nothing. If he rebounds next season he improves the Flames to a non-trivial degree and could become a viable trade asset should Calgary look to flip him for a return a year or two down the road.

There isn't a better option on the UFA market than Grabovski. The Flames are high on the waiver order priority...they could either grab him for free right now and accept his exisiting contract or try to court him as a UFA when (if?) he is bought out.

I don't know if the Flames brass will seriously consider acquiring Grabovski, but they should.

We have cap space, we have roster space, we have need, and we could acquire Grabovski for nothing. The only reason we shouldn't acquire him is if a team higher on the waiver order gets him first. If the Flames pass on him, you have to hope they have something absolutely amazing lined up for top-6 centre.

Flames can afford him so grab him on waivers (only 6 teams ahead of us) and pay the big $. You never know, he could get even more on the open market so avoid that risk and pick him up on waivers. Good advanced stats in past years.

Raymond has been a different player since that horrible injury in the playoffs. Before that, he could drive the play a bit. He's been entirely mediocre since. Like Galiardi, Jones, another 40-point middle rotation winger. Fast though.

The other issue is, where are they going to start shoe-horning all these wingers if they do sign someone like Raymond?

I just assume he leaned on Toronto's management until they made this decision. Clearly, Corban is looking out for his new team. Anything that could potentially benefit the Flames has his fingerprints all over it.

The Flames are quickly becoming the Frankenstein monster of NHL teams. Random parts cobbled together in the desperate attempt to make a working team. If they pick up Grabo somehow (and possibly Mason Raymond?) this team will look totally different and could be half decent, or utterly horrific. Let's hope it's the former.

Also, if we're getting Raymond, then we've got to have our fingers on a trade selling another LW. I guess Feaster could have had success with his "call me" plea about Cammalleri. Maybe Hudler? I guess we could send Sven back to Abby.

I know Leafs have gobs of money, but those are pretty serious $$$ to pay a guy who is going to get scooped up for not that much less money to play against you. I get the cap space is needed for other goofy moves Leafs are going to do but...... Can Feasty not just get on the phone to Nonis & say, OK, we'll save you 15mill if you package Grabo & your 2014 2nd for our 2014 5th & just trade him to us. Maybe Nonis can get a bonus from the savings.

So if we got Grabo, we would have one centre that can adequately play against top competition (Grabo) a second centre that has shown he can drive possesion against second tier competition (Backlund) A potential third line grinder playing third line competition (knight) and Matt Stajan? Who am I forgetting. Then we'll have some good young centres waiting in line, reinhart, horak, monahan. that could slot in for injuries.

That sounds half decent to me, that kind of team could drive possesion, and get scoring from all four lines. The flames would no longer be built with one or two high scoring lines but would need smaller contributions from every player.

The main thing I like about that centre core is that besides stajan you don't really have to shelter any of them all that much.

This move makes too much sense, and because of that I am not optimistic it will happen.

The Flames are quickly becoming the Frankenstein monster of NHL teams. Random parts cobbled together in the desperate attempt to make a working team. If they pick up Grabo somehow (and possibly Mason Raymond?) this team will look totally different and could be half decent, or utterly horrific. Let's hope it's the former.

With the addition of Grabovski, calgary's centre depth would be pretty good, if Knight works out. If Knight doesn't work out, Horak has shown himself to be capable, and hopefully Reinhart does the same. Very solid possesion driving centres with no elite centre.

Flames have a boatload of cap space, and Feaster has made it public that he wants to target centreman as new additions during free agency. He now has the opportunity to grab a quality centre in Grabovski. Let`s hope he realizes it.

Doubt Grabo goes above his current salary, if he does make it to market. You'd have to think that the Leafs would have been shopping him already for a marginal draft pick, and no one would touch it. There would likely be bidding, but i doubt he gets another offer over 5per.

Raymond would be another useful top 9er. I like that we seem to be trying to get a little faster.

Somewhat related, I'd be interested to see if the flames would go after Kris Russel. When we traded Jbo, I'd assumed that Russel would be one of the pieces coming back (instead of Cundari).

yeah, he's not a superstar, but he can skate, and play 12 minutes a night and do alright. I'd imagine he's an upgrade on O'Brien or Smith. For the marginal cost of his new salary (which wouldn't matter for a non-cap team) I'd take a flyer. But I also have a soft spot for players that can skate. Shean Donovan syndrome.

Eriksson has the ability to score 30-45-75. He's a proven asset that would excel on Boston. A Seguin for Eriksson trade (with a spare part/pick from Dallas) seems fair to me. Dallas gets the C they missed out on with Lecavalier.

RE: Grabo, we can only hope that Feaster is DOING HIS FREAKING JOB today, and not out celebrating Independence Day.